‘Traffic jam’ of climbers on Mount Everest being blamed for Canadian woman’s death

A “traffic jam” of climbers in Mount Everest’s “death zone” was a major factor in the death of four people last weekend, including 33-year-old Shriya Shah-Klorfine of Toronto, who died after calling out in vain for her guides to save her.

An American climber and university professor, Jon Kedrowski, 33, was near the 8,848-metre summit and helped rescue four climbers who were also caught up in a crowded push for the summit amid bad weather.

“A two-hour wait at one of the choke-points near the summit left climbers caught in these [130 kilometres per hour] winds,” Kedrowski’s friend, TV meteorologist Chris Tomer, wrote on the expedition’s blog.

“Jon was ascending while other climbers from the previous day who had summited were descending through the choke-point after 18 hours or more on the mountain.

“Cut-off times were ignored and oxygen had run out. Jon [helped] to save four separate climbers.”